From the Principal

From the Principal

Earlier today, parents and carers were notified that our Chair of the Redlands Board of Directors, Ms Glenda Mcloughlin, will be stepping down from her position and leaving the Board after almost eight years of dedicated service. Personally, I have worked closely with Ms McLoughlin in various capacities during her time on the Board, most notably over these past two years as I have moved into the Principal role. I wanted to acknowledge her for her unwavering support both for me as Principal and the School as a whole.

Under Ms McLoughlin’s stewardship, our School has prospered in all areas – academic, cocurricular, pastoral care, leadership and service. Some of the highlights during her time as Chair of the Redlands Board are:

  • a significant enhancement of the School’s facilities, most notably the delivery of the John Roberts Centre, Redlands Learning Hub and Fahl Garden, providing dynamic learning spaces that reflect the quality of our teaching and learning
  • the development and introduction of the School’s Strategic Plan 2021-2025, which has guided the direction of our School to prepare our students for the challenges of the future
  • the renewal of our partnership with Macquarie University for the next 30 years and the establishment of a 20-year partnership with Mosman Lawn Tennis Club, with upgrades to facilities at both sporting venues
  • the expansion of the Redlands Foundation Means-tested Scholarship Fund, providing the opportunity of a Redlands education to exemplary students who would otherwise not be able to attend our School
  • the recent introduction of a new modern Constitution for the School.

Her steady leadership of the governance of the School has not only successfully navigated us through the challenges of the pandemic and the opportunities of the implementation of our Strategic Plan, but has also ensured the School is primed for future success. I would like to formally thank Ms McLoughlin for her wise counsel, exemplary governance and dedicated service to Redlands.

I look forward to working closely with Chair Elect, Professor Glenn Wightwick, and continuing to build upon this strong partnership between the Board and the Executive to ensure we are providing the very best educational experience for our students.  

Last term as part of their Christian Studies assessment, Year 7 students wrote me letters on how our Redlands values are illustrated in both the bible and here at school. Over the holidays I greatly enjoyed reading a selection of their reflections, and yesterday I visited 7G’s Christian Studies lesson to further unpack their insights. I was so impressed with their reflections and in depth feedback and came away further reminded that our Redlands values of compassion, fairness, honesty, moral courage, respect and responsibility are truly lived everyday here at school.

The persistent soggy weather over these first few weeks of Term 2 has certainly presented various challenges and on Saturday, there was an even article in the Sydney Morning Herald with the headline, “Weekend Sport Cancelled as Sports Grounds Waterlogged”. However, with the opening of our all-weather sports fields at Macquarie University, on Saturday morning I had the great pleasure of seeing some weekend sport as some of our Secondary School AFL and Football teams kicked off their season with matches on the new pitch. While we all look forward to the weather clearing so we can enjoy more outside activities, at least we have been able to play some of our sports fixtures on our new home ground.

At the beginning of this term I sent a letter to all families announcing that we will be moving to a single leadership model on the Junior Campus from the beginning of 2025 with one Head of Junior School (P-6) overseeing and leading Preschool through to Year 6. A link to the letter can be found here. This week I have been meeting with class parents in the Prep and Junior Schools to update them further and look forward to sharing more information with the community in the coming months. What I can affirm is that while we are looking at ways to improve our systems, processes and structures, our aim is that the outstanding educational experience our students receive on the Junior Campus, which our parents greatly value, will fundamentally not be changing but only be enhanced.

Lastly, I wish all mothers a Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday and look forward to celebrating with some of you at our Mother’s Day Breakfast on the Junior Campus on Monday morning.

Mr Sean Corcoran

Photo Caption: Redlands Secondary School students accepting the North Sydney Council’s Community Award for inspirational individuals and groups doing good for the community, for their service work with the residents of the Bougainvillea Retirement Village.